France boosts security around Israeli, Jewish, American sites due to Iran conflict
Interior minister orders ‘special vigilance’ against ‘malicious acts by a foreign power,’ as fear of terror plots grows amid Israel’s campaign against Tehran’s nuclear program
France is boosting security, including around Jewish and US sites on its territory, because of the conflict between Israel and Iran, the country’s interior minister said in a domestic order sent on Saturday.
“Special vigilance” must be given “to all sites that could be targeted by terrorist or malicious acts by a foreign power,” French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said in a dispatch to regional security chiefs that was seen by AFP.
He said security should be heightened around “places of worship, schools, state and institutional buildings, sites with high traffic,” including “festive, cultural or religious gatherings.”
The order applied also to “Israeli and US interests as well as to establishments in the Jewish community,” the dispatch said.
Israel, on early Friday, began attacking Iran’s nuclear program, missile sites and military leadership. Tehran has accused Washington of complicity in the attack, which the US has denied, saying it knew of the attack beforehand but was not militarily involved.
Iran, whose leaders are sworn to destroy Israel, responded to Israel’s strikes overnight with ballistic missile barrages that killed three people, wounded dozens and caused extensive damage in residential areas in central Israel.
France is home to the biggest Jewish community in Europe, estimated at some 460,000 people. Attacks on Jews there have spiked amid a wave of antisemitism triggered by the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, which sparked the war in Gaza.
Western intelligence agencies have, over the past five years, thwarted at least 33 suspected Iran-backed terror plots against Jewish and Israeli targets in Europe and the United States.
In May last year, a Paris court detained and charged a couple on accusations that they were involved in Iranian plots to kill Israelis and Jews in Germany and France.
The Times of Israel Community.